Resolution in Darkness
by Yithril
Summary: Yasagi Sasaki is a farmer in Hokkaido, the last remaining member of his family who was killed in Edo during the revolution. On the anniversary of their demise, he ponders his duty and sets on a course of revenge and destruction.
1. Chapter 1

It truly is a vicious cycle.

Kill or be killed.

Such is the life of a true swordsman. Everyone understands that a sword is made to destroy life, to take the most precious possession of all human beings. Despite this fact, all swordsmen under various guises hide this fact and kill for all manner of reasons. Justice, honor, freedom, righteousness. Can causes under these labels truly retain their purity while stained with blood? Murder by any other name would reek in heaven just the same.

Kenshin Himura realized all of this.

A lone wanderer, reversing his blade so that he could never take the life of another human being. Finding new friends and creating a new life for himself, it would seem providence has granted him a second chance despite his transgressions. However reality really isn't as simple as all that, at least not for some people.

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It was a bleak night in the hinterlands of Hokkaido, Japan. The night sky was clear and the stars were shining brightly, but there was an air of tangible despair about the small village of Manase that no one could quite put their finger on. There were very few homes in the village of poor peasant farmers. Very few people were out that night, as most people wanted to remain indoors to evade the gloom.

A gentle, pale hand slid open the door leading into her home. Kimiko Sasaki, clad in a purely white kimono, looked out towards the wilderness surrounding the village. Her long black hair hung down to her waist, shimmering in the faint moonlight. Frowning just slightly, Kimiko waited expectantly for her husband to return home. It wasn't that she was mad or angered by her husband's tardiness that evening; it's just that she had been rather concerned about his recent behavior. But then again it had been a fateful day:

The anniversary of the death of his family.

Yasagi Sasaki knelt before the graves he had fashioned for his family. There were five small headstones made of stone arranged in a semicircle. Placing a bouquet of pure white chrysanthemums gently on the ground, Yasagi hung his head low. Every year on the sixth day of the third month he came to this makeshift shrine to honor his fallen family. The Sasaki's were samurai, retainers to a much more powerful lord who lived in Edo. But that was a long time ago, before the Meiji revolution.

Finishing his prayer, Yasagi looked up at the moon and saw the dark clouds hiding it behind their shadowy veil. The silence of the forest, save for the occasional breeze which caused the trees to rustle, made it seem as if even nature were paying homage to Yasagi's family. Standing up, the young man simply turned around and walked back along the lonely path home.

Kimiko waited diligently by the door for any sign of her husband's return. Her wish was granted when she saw the figure of her husband appearing from the thicket of the forest down the path leading into the village. She wanted to jump for joy but given the occasion displays of happiness didn't seem called for. She worried about her husband, and as Yasagi was not a man to show much emotion, her worries were seldom put to rest. As he came up to his house, he simply stood silent near the doorway, looking at Kimiko. Dutifully, she simply nodded and returned to the inside house with her husband following right behind her.

The Sasaki home was rather humble and modest, typical of Japanese farmers. Kimiko had already laid out the tatami mats on the floor, and had prepared a meal of miso and green tea laid out on the kotatsu. Taking her place by the hearth, Kimiko ladled some more water into a rather disheveled looking pot to boil. Yasagi seated himself _seiza _style behind the kotatsu, his face downcast. Disinterested in eating, he simply sipped the bitter tea slowly. Kimiko looked up from making tea to look at her husband. She knew he was the type to recede into his own little world at times. As his wife she not only knew but came to accept it as a fact of life. Besides he was the man she fell in love with. The glow of the crackling fire on his face seemed to accentuate the definition of his cheek bones and face. Yes, Yasagi was a ruggedly handsome man, but when he slipped into his dark moods the handsomeness was replaced by the face of an _oni._

"It really isn't suitable," remarked Yasagi in a low tone of voice, quietly breaking the silence.

"What is not suitable?"

"It is not suitable that their true graves have no real markings."

What was there to say in response? Kimiko tried not to bring up the death of Yasagi's family, but she knew that every year this day would inevitably come. Still, she did not know much about her husband's past, as she met him much later. She always felt, though, that the past was the thing dragging him away from the present with her.

"It's the best I can do for right now at the very least." Yasagi always had a manner of talking in a very grave manner.

"Do you feel as if you have not fulfilled all of your duties?" said Kimiko, inching away from the hearth and towards her husband. It was so rare for him to be this open.

"That is what I ponder each year Kimiko. That is what I ponder…"

Apparently tired, Yasagi laid his cup down and got ready to rest. Kimiko maneuvered towards the lantern and put out the light. Her husband had already gone to sleep, and Kimiko was feeling tired too. At least tomorrow she could look forward to a year of some form of normalcy in her beloved. Without further ado, the couple fell into slumber.

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_Angry flames engulfed a castlein Edo. The heat from the inferno was unbearable, the flames seemed to mercilessly consume everything in their path. Wooden beams fell, with their burden soon following suit. Young Yasagi ran frantically from his room, the other residents of the castle panicking and fleeing for their lives._

_Oneesan! Okaasan! Otoosan! _

_The young boy cried out as loud as he could manage, searching for anyone in his family to come help. The servants were too busy trying to escape with their valuables and seemed little concerned with the lonely little boy. Amidst the chaos, little Yasagi caught sight of his older sister Junkou. The poor girl was trapped in the corner of the main room, a wall of flaming beams barring her way out._

"_Help me! Help me!" screamed the young girl frantically._

"_Oneesan!" yelled out Yasagi, reaching out to help his sister. _

_The flames soon grew out of control, however, and the poor boy's sister disappeared behind the inferno. _

"_Yasagi-kun, we must flee," said a familiar voice._

"_Mieko," said the young boy surprised, turning around to see his caretaker. Mieko, a slim middle aged woman, immediately lifted the young boy up and tried to rush out of the castle with the throng of other people. _

"_Where's mother? Where's father?"_

_With the young boy in tow, Mieko made it outside of the castle through the back near the river. The sound of battle rang throughout the air, as well as the panicked screams of the castle civilians. Yasagi began to sob uncontrollably, the situation really being too much for a child of his age to handle._

_Mieko shushed the young boy immediately and found a thicket to hide in so no soldier would find them. Looking through the shoots of bamboo towards the night sky, Yasagi could make out two figures atop the castle despite the smoke and flames billowing from the castle. One seemed to be a long haired man and the other…_

"_Father!" cried out the young boy reaching out with his hand._

"_Quiet or we'll be found out," scolded Mieko, who had to cover the poor child's mouth. The two figures atop the rooftop battled fiercely. The moon was then stained with blood, however, as the long haired warrior dealt the finishing blow._

"_Otoosan!" yelled out Yasagi, who soon passed out from all of the mental trauma._

Yasagi woke up in a cold sweat, beads of stinging perspiration slowly inching down his forehead and body. Kimiko's sleep was disrupted as she heard the heavy breathing of her husband.

"What's the matter? What happened?"

"The same dream…"

"The memory of when you were a little boy?"

"Yes, the same damned nightmarish dream I have every year."

Just then, Yasagi did something Kimiko had never seen him do. He began to sob. Tears of grief and pain that had been dammed up inside the young man could no longer be held back. A bit taken aback by the flood of emotion, Kimiko simply held her husband in her arms, allowing him to sob. Trite phrases like "it will be alright" or "everything will turn out in the end" seemed useless and out of place. Instead, Kimiko felt now more than ever she simply wanted to _be_ beside her beloved and comfort him as best she could.

---------------------------------------------------

Kimiko woke up and noticed she was lying on the futon alone. Still a little groggy, she looked around for her husband.

"He must have already gone to the fields. I guess he wanted to take his mind off things rather than mull things over during breakfast," she thought.

Her assessment was definitely correct. Yasagi found that when life troubled him it was best to set his mind on a task or labor. He had gotten up early that morning and was already on his way to the fields to start harvesting. Yasagi maintained his household through farming and by selling ink paintings and calligraphy his wife would make. He found that manual labor was rather fulfilling in a way, and a good means to focus his mind on something other than nightmares.

It was luckily a quiet morning, the kind Yasagi relished. Getting to work harvesting, his mind began to wander as it did.

"The nightmare I had was more vivid, more disturbing than it has been in previous years. I felt something, as though my family were speaking to me from beyond the grave. My duty to them, have I really done my duty to them…" thought Yanagi as he began to till into the ground. Looking up at the morning sky, a look of longing set into his gaze, the young man thought.

"_What is my duty to them? If I find what it is will it replace the pain?"_


	2. Chapter 2

Ever since being transformed into an international sea port, Hakodate was a huge hub of trade for the local people and the nation. Whenever Yasagi made the long trip to the city he looked forward to seeing the young men sporting the strange looking western suits and the women getting in line to get their picture taken with something called a "camera". A new life was injected into the city, and there was something new and fresh to see. The huge sails of the ships from England, the Netherlands, America, and other exotic sounding places filled the harbor and the surrounding horizon. Yasagi walked through the streets and eventually found the place he was looking for: an old antique shop owned by Benjiro Motoyama.

"He should be in this time of day…" thought Yasagi as he tied his horse to a nearby post and took a sack with him inside.

Benjiro was sitting behind the counter, reading through a newspaper with a deeply furrowed brow. The antique store was dusty and had the musty smell indicative of lots of ancient books and treasures. Looking up from his newspaper, Benjiro's face lit up as he saw his old friend.

"Welcome Yasagi, it's been such a long time!"

"Hello Benjiro, I thought I'd drop in since I was going to be in the city today. I've got some stuff I thought you might like to look at…" said Yasagi as he hefted the sack and presented a plethora of different antiques, including old art scrolls and books.

"Well, I can buy some of this. You know, the westerners love to drop into my store and buy this stuff. They think it's exotic. One man's junk is another man's treasure I always say."

"Well I have to say we Japanese are guilty of it too. Have you been by the city square today? Do you know how much the western clothes sell for?"

"You don't have to tell me Yasagi, I wish I could get in on that trade but the westerners have it locked up nice and tight. I've got some tea going so since you've come all this way why don't we play some Go?"

"I'd love to Benjiro."

Putting his newly acquired items away, Benjiro went over to the small stove in the corner and poured some boiling water into some cups while Yasagi sat in front of a large go board.

"Here you go, I know it's not much but…"

"Its fine Benjiro, you have an eye for antiques and you have a good taste for tea."

The old man chuckled and picked up a go ke full of white stones and placed it on the side of the board. Yasagi enjoyed playing Benjiro because he was as experienced in Go as he was experienced in antiques. Yasagi often pondered whether in a past life Benjiro had been one of the original go masters. It wasn't out of the question, but the old man didn't have the personality of a monk.

The game had started off in a very peaceful manner, with the moyos clearly defined and expansive. Benjiro was a very solid player and usually overtook his opponents by starting do or die fights within his opponent's framework. As the two men played Yasagi's mind tended to wander away from the game and think back to the previous day. The dream he had the night before still continued to haunt him in his waking hours. It was hard for him not to pull up the nightmarish visions in his mind. Even when he tried to push them back, they would force their way to the forefront of his consciousness, torturing him.

"And how is that wife of yours, Kimiko wasn't it?"

Yasagi snapped back into reality a second and simply smiled. "She is doing very well. We finally moved out into the countryside. I was able to get some land so that I could farm, and she spends a lot of her time making things."

"Oh really, so some of the stuff you brought me is hers?"

"Some of it, some of it she had been saving. She said her grandfather painted those scrolls in his spare time. I think they were samurai from what she told me."

"It's a shame she'd sell her possessions, what does she keep to remind her of her grandparents?"

"She says her grandfather is not a man she'd soon forget," replied Yasagi with a characteristic wide grin.

"Well that's good, it is important to keep your family close to your heart. I'm sure her grandfather would want her to make the best use of his legacy anyways. It's a shame though; the samurai have fallen on hard times since the revolution."

"Speaking of which how has Sakai-san been since I last came?" replied Yasagi, his face downcast.

"I can't really say for sure since he stopped coming to the shop. He probably sold the last of his possessions, but he stays holed up in bars all day…"

"I see. That's a shame then. Sakai's family were friends of mine if my recollection serves me correctly, so I feel I should at least see how he's doing."

"Of course, of course. I wouldn't get too involved though, Yasagi. He couldn't adapt to the Meiji era where you seem to be doing quite well. I've found in life it's best to surround yourself with like minded people."

Yasagi didn't reply but instead continued the game. Sakai Ishida was a tender subject as far as he was concerned since he was one of the few people he remembered having close connections with his family. Sakai was a little older than Yasagi and was also a member of a former samurai family. After the Meiji era had begun and the samurai stopped getting stipends from the government, Sakai's family fell on very hard times. He wouldn't talk about it with Yasagi too much in detail because of his pride, but they both knew that Sakai had to be in pretty dire straights to sell off his priceless family possessions. Thinking back to several months earlier…

_Yasagi was seated near the window in a restaurant overlooking the twinkling ocean. Benjiro was able to contact Sakai for him and both men wanted to sit down and have a much needed chat. Sakai soon appeared, sitting himself down and starting off chat in a boisterous and cheerful manner. He was clad in a European trench coat with a big brown derby hat. He looked like he had just walked off the cover of a western magazine. Despite the vestments, Yasagi remembered the man from childhood, and recollected how shy and reserved he once was. _

"_So how is business going these days Sakai? Have you found yourself a job?"_

"_Oh I've got a few things lined up. In fact after I leave here I was going to talk to the manager of a trade shop. He needs someone to manage the docks and organize the laborers. It looked like a good enough job, and I know someone on the inside who can help me out."_

"_That's great, really."_

"_Why don't you and Kimiko move into the city Yasagi? Don't tell me you like the life of a farmer. There's ten times more going on here than there ever will be where you're living."_

"_Well I did think about it but Kimiko said that visiting cities are far more fun than actually living in them. Plus I find farming rewarding in a way, you know, working with my hands."_

"_Times have changed Yasagi, you know that. The game has changed and we're playing by brand new rules. I just want you to be on the same team as everyone else and realize that now the money has changed hands. It's not like when you and I were kids."_

"_I think that much is obvious. Well I'll think about it but I'm pretty sure my mind has been made up. I'm glad to see you're doing well despite the changes."_

_Sakai rubbed the top of his cup with his fingers, his happy visage melting into obscurity. He looked out the window towards the ocean, looking at the bustling city. Yasagi was always sensitive to people's changes in mood, and immediately took note when his friends mask was taken off for a moment._

"_Well I'd love to chat some more but it's getting close to my appointment and I have to run. We'll do this again sometime Yasagi, it's good to meet people from old times," Sakai said, his face returning to its original state of capriciousness. _

_Yasagi nodded and watched as his friend left. After a few minutes, Yasagi decided to be a bit sneaky and see if couldn't follow Sakai to see where he was going. There really was no blatant reason, just a suspicious feeling that Yasagi got in the pit of his stomach. Exiting the restaurant, Yasagi stayed far behind his friend and concealed himself within the crowd. It wasn't too hard to remain unnoticed as he followed Sakai down to the harbor._

"_I guess he did find a job here, maybe I'll get to see who is in charge. Maybe I can start work here as well…" thought Yasagi. Sakai did not walk towards the manager's office however, but disappeared into a dark alley nearby. _

"_Where is he going?" thought Yasagi as he crept between crates and boxes, trying to remain concealed but close enough to where he could see his friend clearly. Sakai was soon flanked by several large, menacing looking men wearing dark colored kimonos. _

"_Who are these people? They look like thugs…"_

_Sakai made several sweeping gestures with his arms and laughed nervously as the men surrounding him seemed to become more and more unamused. The two larger men held Sakai by his arms while the other man began punching him in the stomach repeatedly. Yasagi couldn't stand the sight of his friend being beaten, and immediately bolted from his hiding place and knocked over one of the thugs. Picking up a nearby metal pipe, Yasagi used his kendo training to quickly dispatch of the thugs, leaving only the leader who was frozen stiff from fear._

"_Who…who the hell are you! You've got no business interferin' with us. This bastard owes us money and wouldn't pay up."_

"_Leave…now," replied Yasagi in a deadly tone of voice, raising the pipe._

_The thugs screamed and ran away down an alley. Sakai was on the ground, his hat crushed in and his face bloody. Yasagi held out a hand to help his friend up, but he was slapped away._

"_Why did you follow me!" angrily snapped Sakai as he got to his feet._

"_I…just…"_

"_Don't do it again. Mind your own goddamned business for once…" said Sakai seething as he walked away as fast as he could. Yasagi just stood there, motionless for a moment, confused about what had just happened._

"Looks like you've got me Yasagi…" replied Benjiro as he studied the board and counted up points.

"I just lucked out in the corner, that's all. I felt I was behind the entire game," replied Yasagi, looking thoughtfully at the game.

"I think so, but as usual you get me in Yose. Want to play another?"

"No Benjiro I really have to get going. I should get back on the trail so I won't leave Kimiko at home alone for the night. She doesn't like it."

"You take good care of her. She's a good woman and she'll take good care of you."

Yasagi simply smiled as he exited. Finding his horse, Yasagi mounted himself and began to leave out the city. While passing through the entertainment district, Yasagi caught sight of what he thought was Sakai sprawled out on the counter of a pub. Getting off his horse and taking a better look, Yasagi confirmed it. His childhood friend was now barely awake, leaned over on a bar stool with a jar of sake in his hands. Yasagi simply looked away and got back on his horse. He just didn't want to see his friend like that.

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End file.
